Saddlebag Lake, near Tioga Pass

This lake can be found on the eastern side of
Tioga Pass, off route 120, which is itself within Yosemite National
Park. The lake is actually made up of two lakes, which have
been raised via a dam to support Lee Vining, a small town on Mono
Lake. The lakes provide electrical power due to the incredible
drop in altitude over a very short distance. The lake drains
into the Lee Vining river, which feeds Mono Lake.

Access to the lake is from route 120, via a mostly
dirt road a few miles outside of the Tioga Pass entrance to
Yosemite. A small ferry runs from the south end of the lake to
the north end, and a wonderful little restaurant provides
home-cooked food at the south end.

Our trip started around 2 PM, and we hiked north
of the lake until the last ferry at around 6:30 PM. Since the
lake is at 11,000 feet, hiking is not a good idea unless you have
acclimated to high altitude. We had been staying at Twin Lakes
for a week, at around 7500 feet, which made the transition to 11,000
feet bearable.

Unfortunately, as I rushed down to meet the ferry,
I accidentally opened the camera back, ruining the best shots of the
lakes. Somehow, my camera bag strap got caught in a way that
triggered the back to open. I was sick about this loss for
days... I guess we will just have to go back!

Click
on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version of the image.

Panorama SL1:
Saddlebag Lake Trio

Copyright (c) 2003 by Eric C. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

The third lake in the background is
Saddlebag lake. The two lakes in the foreground have no name
that I know of - they are lakes that form during the spring, and dry
up by end of summer. This image was captured with a series of
landscape images, and stitched with PowerStitch. The image is
over 8100 x 1900 pixels, or nearly 45 MB in size. When viewed
full size, or on a large print, you can discover five people hiking
or standing by the middle lake.

Panorama SL2:
Saddlebag Lake Twin

Copyright (c) 2003 by Eric C. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

This is another view of the middle
lake from the trio panorama above. Saddlebag lake is not
visible, but it is over the near hill on the far left of the lake.
The hiking path in the foreground gives a sense of adventure to this
image. This image is over 6900 x 2000 pixels or 40 MB in size,
and was captured using landscape images, and stitched with
PowerStitch.